DAY 2 – Friday 7/01/22
Who: Sue (63), DVC Member

Plan: Pool/Beach, Steakhouse 71

Actual: Last night just after 7:30 I got up and left for the Grand Floridian. To get there I walked across the sky bridge into the Contemporary to catch the monorail. Fortunately I didn’t have any “waits” – I got a seat on the next monorail
and arrived at Grand Floridian pretty early. The piano player was playing in the lobby, so after checking out Enchanted Rose (quite busy and really pretty) I sat on one of the sofas in the lobby and did some reading on my kindle.

Around 8:20 I left the lobby and walked out to the boat dock by Narcoosee’s. That’s the best viewing spot here. It wasn’t dark yet and just before 8:35 I watched the Electrical Water Pageant barges float out from their storage canal (right across
from me) and get into position. At 9:20 it started – first with the 50th Anniversary stuff, then the regular show and ending with a bit more 50th Anniversary. I really enjoyed it, other than it being so humid out there!

After it ended I posted some pictures to facebook and went back to the main building to catch the monorail “home”. One was there when I arrived, and I entered a car fully ok with standing for the short ride but a man there with his family insisted I
take his seat. I thanked him, but I don’t expect people to give up their seats just because I’m old. I have the option of standing or waiting for the next monorail. He & his family got off at Magic Kingdom, which is the next stop. Contemporary
was the stop after that, so I got off there and walked back to Bay Lake Tower.

Quite a few people were standing on the sky bridge waiting for the fireworks. I got to the studio about 10 minutes before they started and enjoyed them from my balcony. I do think the previous shows were better, but of course watching from here I don’
t get the effect of the projections on the castle and all along Main Street. I also have no interest in being in the crowded Magic Kingdom to see it properly.

It was lights out by 10:30 – guess I could have seen Electrical Water Pageant again, but I was too lazy <g>. I slept pretty well. The room was quiet but leaving the drapes open it was much too light even though it was pretty dark out there. I ended
up getting up and closed the drapes except for about 12 inches in the middle, and even that was a bit much but I didn’t feel like getting up again. It was also a bit cooler than I’d anticipated, but that was my fault. Tonight, I’ll pull a blanket
down from the closet and use it along the bottom half of the bed – that should be perfect.

Since I’m not really going anywhere this morning, I didn’t get up out of bed until after 5. I made my cappuccino and brought it back to bed, turning on the local news as I got settled. They arrested some guy trying to steal something Star Wars
related at the new Swan Reserve – he claimed to be a pending Disney security officer or some such thing. He looked more like a nutcase (sorry for being politically incorrect there) and they went on to say they believe he’s connected to thefts at
Boardwalk, Grand Floridian and one other Disney resort.

The internet was still problematic this morning – signal would be dropped, so I’d have to disconnect and reconnect. It’s annoying but perhaps it’ll push me out of the room more to enjoy doing something offline (on the tablet or kindle) on the
balcony. They are expecting more rain today though, so we’ll see. By 7 the sun was shining and the clouds had burned away. The steady stream of arriving boats had begun as well.

I put on some clothes and got some ice for my water bottle, dropped that off and went to Contempo Café to scrounge up some grape jelly. I also wandered around the pool area. The main pool opens at 10 but the quiet one (the one I prefer) opened at 7.
I don’t bother with the pool at Bay Lake Tower – never liked that one.

I went back to the studio, changed into a swimsuit and made breakfast to eat out on the balcony. Breakfast was an egg, slice of bacon and then an English muffin. The English muffin was the best part – I may have microwaved the egg a few seconds too
long. After breakfast I came back inside, grabbed my bag for the pool and was walking out the door at 8:20. It’s early but it’s already hot – it will be miserable before too long.

Another couple were heading over at the same time as me, so we took opposite corners. The other 2 corners each have a private cabana – cast members were setting up both but I only saw people at one of them. After setting up my chaise lounge I walked
around on the white sandy beach a bit. They have a volleyball net set up and it has the monorail on it. I wasn’t able to get a good picture, though. I went back to my chair and did some reading. There’s no pool shower at this pool so from time to
time I sat at the edge of the pool and at least got my feet/legs cooled off.

When the main pool opened at 10 I moved over there, near a pool shower. Once I was set up I went to cool off and the shower doesn’t work! I saw another one over by one of the spas and the entrance to the slide – that one worked. I didn’t bother
going into the pool at all, but plenty of people were enjoying it. I did more reading, and then around 11:15 picked up my stuff and moved into the shade to cool down a bit. About 30 minutes later I packed up and returned to the studio.
I took my shower and found it odd there is no soap dish or holder in the bathtub. That seems like such a basic thing to have, but hopefully they’ll remedy that during the next refurbishment. I got dressed and was ready by 1pm so I headed down early
for lunch. I figured if I got in and out quickly I would be able to catch some of General Hospital.

They had a podium outside the entrance to Steakhouse 71 with a cast member who was “earning his ears”. I had to check in there, give him my phone # and then wait for a text. Do we really need this extra layer?? I sat off to the side in the lobby
and within a minute or 2 had the text that my table was ready. This time I was directed to the desk inside, where I was taken to my table.

The restaurant was busy and remained busy throughout my time there. When a table opened up someone else was seated there within 5 minutes. My server was very nice, in contrast to the one at Boathouse yesterday. That one did her job just fine, but it
felt like she thought she was doing us a favor taking the order, etc. This one today had more warmth & friendliness (not that when I go to a restaurant I’m looking for a new friend).

I ordered the Fess Parker Riesling thinking that since it’s from California it would be a dry Riesling. My server didn’t know. It ended up being sweet – not something I’d be likely to order again but it wasn’t too sweet to drink. My server
offered to bring me something else but I stayed with this. For food I ordered the French onion soup and after a while they brought me an order of onion rings. I told them I ordered onion soup, but boy did those onion rings look GREAT!!!! My server
later told me they told her I said I’d ordered soup and she replied that I had – please check the order. They did, and saw it was for soup <g>. My soup came out shortly after that and it was delicious!! I will consider traveling over here once in
a while to get it. It wasn’t the ridiculous huge crock they use at Chefs de France – it was normal.

I passed on dessert and settled the check (passholder & DVC discount for the food portion) then went up to Contempo Café and bought the flourless chocolate cake to put in the fridge. I can nibble on that the next couple of days. From there I went up
to the studio and only missed the first 5 minutes of General Hospital. Housekeeping came by to do the room check, and that person was also very nice.

I’m still having computer issues, with pages opening up on their own when in AOL. It’s vaguely familiar but I don’t recall how it got fixed last time (years ago). If the reports suddenly end, it just means I wasn’t able to access AOL long
enough to get them sent – and will try again after the problem is fixed.

After General Hospital I sat out on the balcony with my tablet for about an hour. It was raining very hard by the time I came inside, and it’s supposed to rain until 8pm or so. At times I couldn’t even see anything – it was a total whiteout. I’
m glad now I went last night to see Electrical Water Pageant early! Looks like it’ll be a quiet evening hanging around the resort.

One thing I discovered on this trip is the counter service places at most of the resorts in this area are limited to the guests staying at that resort. I think Wilderness Lodge was the exception, but since the boats between resorts don’t seem to be
running, the only way to get there would be driving (or a transfer at MK). They all want mobile order only, and that’s where the warning/alert comes up. I’m glad I wasn’t counting on Captain Cook’s or Gasparilla Grill for breakfasts or other
meals!

I went ahead and canceled my lunch at Grand Floridian Café on Sunday. I’ll be over there for Enchanted Rose on Saturday and don’t want another onion soup after today’s soup. I discovered I have the option of ordering food “to go” from
Steakhouse 71 so I may order their salad (not the wedge or Caesar – the other one) and eat on the balcony with my own wine. I found the glasses of wine to be higher than normal there. Another option would be to eat in the lounge, but I’ll probably
just get it “to go”.

The rain let up after a while but now it’s supposed to continue (with thunder off and on) until 9. I may decide to hop on the monorail and visit Polynesian, but most likely I’ll save that for another day – maybe tomorrow on my way to Grand
Floridian. I’ll watch the fireworks from my balcony again and if I’m still up may go check out Electrical Water Pageant at 10:05. For now I’m going to try to get the report posted – if anything interesting happens tonight I can include it at
the start of tomorrow’s report. Mostly I imagine I’ll just be lounging around this evening.

Today was a very nice day, other than it being so hot/humid (normal this time of year) and all the rain this afternoon & evening (also pretty normal this time of year). I was very pleased with Steakhouse 71 and was glad I tried it. I think SB would
like it too, so we may be back on some future trip.

Tomorrow will be similar to today but hopefully with less rain. I’m excited to try Enchanted Rose over at Grand Floridian!

Sue/WDW1972

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